McHenry Times

State Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) reflected upon the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on our country and thanked the men and women who fought for our freedom during the 20- year war in Afghanistan.

McConchie took to Twitter to reflect upon the Sept. 11th attacks on the 20th anniversary. 

"There are few things that an entire nation remembers," McConchie tweeted. "Let us never forget this attack on the innocent, and sacrifices made by our first responders who died trying to save them."

Nine days earlier, McConchie spoke at a memorial dedication ceremony to honor the lives of the soldiers, airmen, sailors, and Marines who died trying to make a "better world and better country" during the war. 

"In the 20 years since the 9/11 attacks, America worked with its allies to establish peace and freedom in the Afghanistan region," McConchie said in a video posted on YouTube by the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus.

During the ceremony, he also honored the 13 service members who were killed in the August terrorist attack at an airport gate in Kabul just as the U.S. was approaching the deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan.

"Today is the last official day of the war in Afghanistan and we give thanks for those servicemen and women who came home to family, for those who went home to God, thank you," McConchie said in the video that was posted on Sept. 2. "Thank you for defending us, thank you for uplifting us, thank you for making the world a better place."

According to a video posted on YouTube by the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus, the World Trade Center first opened in 1973. Less than 30 years later the buildings collapsed following a terrorist attack.

The attacks that day killed nearly 3,000 people stemming from four plane hijackings and subsequent crashes in New York, the Pentagon, and Pennsylvania, according to Britannica. 

Britannica also reported the 19 terrorists who participated in the attack also died.